Kampala, (UG): Ugandan joint security forces are on a manhunt for suspected ADF Rebels who on Tuesday evening shot and killed three people including two foreign tourists before torching down their vehicle in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese District, western Uganda.
The three, a British national, a South African citizen and their Ugandan guide are said to have been attacked at Nyamunuka along Katwe Road in the Western Uganda district of Kasese, according to Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) spokesperson Mr Bashir Hangi.
“The deceased, whose names are withheld, include a Ugandan tour guide, a UK citizen and a South African citizen were travelling under Gorilla and Wildlife Safaris, a local tour company,” Mr Hangi said on Tuesday.
He added that UWA had already informed the Uganda Police and other security agencies “who are working diligently to establish the precise sequences of events leading up to this horrific incident and to identify those responsible.”
Meanwhile, Police Spokesperson, SCP Fred Enanga linked the “cowardly terrorist attack” on the tourists to the extremist ADF rebels usually based in the east of the neighbouring DR Congo.
“We have registered a cowardly terrorist attack on two foreign tourists and a Ugandan in Queen Elizabeth National Park,” Enanga aid in a Tuesday police statement.
“Our joint forces responded immediately upon receiving the information and are aggressively pursuing the suspected ADF rebels. We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims,” he added.
In a wild scene of photos shared on various social media platforms, bodies of the victims areseen lying in a pool of blood near a burning tour vehicle in which the victims were travelling before the attack.
This is not the first time tourists have been attacked in Queen Elizabeth National Park. On April 2, 2019, American tourist Kimberly Endicott and her guide Jean-Paul Mirenge were kidnapped by suspected terrorists at QENP. The government paid ransom for their release five days later.
The Tuesday attack comes days after President Museveni said on Sunday that security forces had foiled a bomb attack on churches by the ADF rebel group.
It is reported that the ADF had made two bombs, which they were planning to plant in churches in Kibibi, Butambala but the devices “were reported to police and defused”.
In June this year, ADF terrorists crossed into Uganda from DR Congo and raided Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Secondary School killing 38 students and six locals in the henous attack.
Amid all these attacks, President Museveni has kept up a running commentary on successful army operations inside the Congo even as he warned that ADF Rebels are trying to re-enter Uganda because of the intensity of the UPDF’s Operation Shujaa being conducted alongside Congolese forces.
The President his latest update on October 15, indicated that Ugandan fighter bombers hit four ADF targets inside DRC located between 69 and 130 km from the border.
As a consequence, President Museveni said the terrorists were running from Congo and urged the public near the border to be on a watch-out for strangers who may come in heir areas as these might be rebels.
“The public is, therefore, alerted to look out for strange people that come to you. Report them to the police that are nearest to you. Even relatives who have been away for a long time and suddenly return. They may be part of the terrorists,” Mr Museveni said.
The ADF group has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
In its latest report in June, a United Nations expert panel on DR Congo confirmed ISIS had “provided financial support to the ADF since at least 2019”.
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